Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is the winner of our 2017 Iowa Republican Gubernatorial Primary Straw Poll. Among our readers who plan to vote in the Iowa Republican Primary on June 5, 2018, Reynolds leads Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett by 27 points.
Reynolds held a clear majority among our Iowa Republican readers with 53.1 percent. Corbett won 26 percent of the votes. Boone Mayor Pro Tem Steven Ray only pulled in 2.1 percent of the votes. Over nine percent of our readers are undecided, but a greater number – 9.6 percent – is unhappy with the current field and is waiting for another candidate to jump into the race.
Reynolds leads Corbett among our male readers – 59 percent to 23.9 percent, but it is much closer among our female readers where Reynolds only leads by a plurality with a 7.4 point advantage – 38.9 percent to 31.5 percent.
Reynolds is the clearly favored candidate among those who identified as evangelical/born-again Christian – 57.1 percent to Corbett’s 19.4 percent. She also leads Corbett among our Catholic readers – 58.6 percent to 24.1 percent. Among those readers who identify as Mainline Protestant, the vote was more evenly split between Reynolds and Corbett with Reynolds having a six point advantage.
Reynolds holds a 36 point advantage among our conservative readers. The only demographic where Corbett leads Reynolds among our readers is with those who identify as moderate – 44.4 percent to 39 percent.
Among our Iowa Republican readers, Reynolds boasts a higher approval rating than President Donald Trump. 53.2 percent said they approved of her job performance with 29.2 percent saying they did not approve. 17.6 percent were still unsure of Reynolds who became Governor after former Governor Terry Branstad was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to China.
Only 43.6 percent of our Iowa Republican readers approve of President Donald Trump’s job performance with 38.8 percent who disapprove and 17.6 percent who are unsure.
Among Reynolds’ primary challengers, Corbett and Ray both see their unfavorable rating surpass their favorable rating. Only 34 percent of our Iowa Republican readers held a favorable view of Corbett while 39.9 percent had an unfavorable opinion of him. For Ray, almost three-quarters of our readers didn’t have an opinion about him, but those who did had a negative one. Only 3.7 percent of our readers had a favorable opinion of Ray while 24 percent held an unfavorable view.
While a majority of our poll participants held a favorable opinion of Iowa House and Senate Republicans it is much lower than one would expect with a poll taken of just Republicans.
The Iowa House Republican Caucus fairs better with 59 percent of our Iowa Republican leaders having a favorable opinion and 33 percent having an unfavorable view. The Iowa Senate Republicans, which just won a majority last fall, only 50.5 percent of our Iowa Republican readers held a favorable view of the caucus with 40 percent having an unfavorable view.
Our 2017 survey is not a scientific poll. Our straw poll was conducted online between August 9-August 16, 2017 and had 188 participants. Participants were limited to those who identified as Iowans who planned to vote in the upcoming Iowa Republican Primary on June 5, 2018. Participants were only allowed to take the survey once.
